Turkish companies make $6.8 billion worth of FDI in 2014

Turkish companies made foreign direct investments (FDI) worth a total of $6.8 billion in 2014, an increase of 89 percent from the previous year, according to a report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on May 18.

The UNCTAD stated that companies in Turkey have consistently increased their level of outward foreign direct investment in recent years, barring a slight decline in 2013.

The report also showed that the overall share of total global FDI undertaken by companies in developing economies rose to 36 percent in 2014, up from just 12 percent in 2007. FDI from emerging economies, meanwhile, increased by 30 percent in 2014, according to report.

The Asia region has become, for the first time, the world's largest investor in other countries, with investments abroad worth $440 billion. Asia is followed by North America ($390 billion) and Europe ($286 billion).

Hong Kong and China were the second and the third largest investors in the world, after the United States.
Among the 20 largest investors, nine were either from developing or transition economies, included Hong Kong, China, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Chile, Kuwait and Taiwan.

Last year, foreign investments from Japan, the world's third largest economy, shrank by 16.3 percent to $114 billion, a decline second only to that of Africa, where FDI dropped 20.6 percent to $11 billion.

The UNCTAD said separately that the world's second largest economy, China, was the top destination for foreign direct investment in 2014, edging the U.S. out of that position for the first time since 2003.